'Turned away' by hospital, Odisha woman delivers baby near drain

A tribal woman delivered a baby girl near a drain in the premises of a government hospital in Odisha's Koraput on Friday after she was allegedly refused admission for want of required documents.

However, the authorities of Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital (SLNMCH), dismissed the allegation of denial of admission to the woman.

After news about the incident spread, the hospital admitted the baby to the special neo-natal care unit (SNCU) and the 30-year-old woman taken care of in the hospital.

Doctors at the hospital said the condition of both mother and baby are stable.

The woman, a resident of Janiguda village under the Dasmantpur block had came to the hospital on Thursday with her mother and sister to meet her husband Raghu Muduli, who is admitted at the hospital with fever since Wednesday.

Odisha: Woman gave birth in drain near hospital's canteen in Koraput after doctors allegedly refused to check her due to lack of documents, now admitted. She was visiting her ailing husband there when she complained of labor pain. Hospital's superintendent refutes allegations pic.twitter.com/0dNZeJDQTv

— ANI (@ANI) December 16, 2017

She developed labour pain and went to the gynaecology ward for admission but the hospital authorities refused to admit her, Gouramani Muduli, mother of the woman alleged.

"The medical staff refused to admit my daughter as we had not brought the prescription and required documents. My daughter delivered the child near the drain after she was refused admission," she alleged.

However, the chief district medical officer of Koraput, Lalit Mohan Rath, trashed the charge.

"The woman delivered the child while answering natures call. She had not approached any hospital staff either for medical check-up or for admission," he said.